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Rigorous High School Gives Underprivileged Students Hope for Future
We take a closer look at Bard High School Early College to see how a more rigorous curriculum is challenging disadvantaged students to set their future sights high.
Photo Credit: bhsec.bard.edu
College is the future dream for many high school students, but that dream is more likely to become a reality for some students than others. Now, high school students in Newark have an option that can help them beat the odds and make that college dream a reality. Bard College has brought its proven track record of success to a Newark high school, offering students the chance to experience the rigors of college academics firsthand within the secure confines of a high school environment.
Bard High School Early College Newark
Bard High School Early College Newark (BHSEC Newark) is the latest in a series of college-based high schools created through Bard College. According to the BHSEC website, this school first opened in 2011 as a partnership between the college and Newark Public Schools. BHSEC Newark offers a rigorous, college-level curriculum combined with traditional high school academics that prepare students for life after high school.
What makes the Newark school unique is its commitment to enrolling students from a diverse range of backgrounds, giving students the chance to excel academically that might not have the chance otherwise. Students come from all Newark neighborhoods, including disadvantaged areas like Newark’s West Ward, where drugs and shootings are almost a way of life for the youth residents of the community. The New York Times reports that BHSEC Newark is positioned across the street from a tire shop and bail bond business, seemingly to breathe fresh life into a troubled neighborhood.
About BHSEC
BHSEC Newark...
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A School Run by Students? Massachusetts High School Embraces New Model
We explore a new concept in on Massachusetts high school, where students choose their curriculum, homework assignments and classroom structure.
In the traditional school, curriculum is chosen by school board members and taught by faculty – usually standing in front of a classroom of students. Students can choose to engage in the lesson, or not, but they rarely have much say in what or how they learn. Until now. One high school in Massachusetts has set course on a whole new kind of learning adventure, where students choose the subjects and run the classroom as they see fit? Does it work? Let’s find out.
The Independent Project
Time recently reported on an innovative program taking place at Monument Mountain Regional High School in Massachusetts. The program, aptly dubbed the “Independent Project,” offers students a chance to determine how and what they study during school hours. The project was started by a student who became frustrated seeing his friends lose interest in class and simply stop making the effort to perform academically.
Sam Levin complained to his mother about the problem, who promptly suggested Levin start his own school. The high school student began with a garden on school property that was fully tended by students on a voluntary basis. When Levin saw how readily students put forth effort on a project all their own, he decided to expand the garden concept to other aspects of the school experience.
“I was seeing the exact opposite in school,” Levin told Time. “Kids weren’t even doing the things they needed to do to get credit. There was something at odds with students...
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Cyber-Education Coming to the Public School Realm
Online learning is no longer just for colleges, as more charter high schools are becoming completely virtual.
Online learning has become a popular way for many college students to earn a degree, but it is also making its way into many primary and secondary schools as well. With the rising popularity of cyber-charter schools nationwide, some public school districts are turning to cyber-education as a means of competing with other schools in their areas. But is online education the answer for public schools today? The answer depends on who you ask.
What is Cyber-Education?
According to K12 (an online school), cyber or virtual schooling takes place on the Internet, rather than a traditional classroom. Students go online from anywhere they choose, allowing them to keep up with school work from home or on the road. Access to teachers is completed through phone calls, online through conferencing or face-to-face in some instances. Teachers that work in cyber-schools are state-certified and oversee virtual classrooms, where students often have the opportunity to interact with their instructors and peers.
While cyber-schools maintain a sense of structure in their virtual classrooms, there is flexibility in education that is not seen in a brick-and-mortar classroom. The success of students in cyber-education rests more squarely on parents, who must ensure students remain focused even if they are doing their learning from the comfort of home. However, unlike home schooling, parents do not act as instructors in the cyber-school experience.
The Benefits of Cyber-Schooling
Those who have participated in cyber-schooling tout numerous benefits with the model, including:
- The ability to individualize lessons to a student’s ability and...
At the 20-Year Mark, Are Charter Schools Making the Grade?
On the 20th anniversary of the opening of the first charter school, are these schools really offering an attractive option to the standard neighborhood school? We’ll explore the evidence.
Charter schools have been touted as one of the solutions to a failing school system, but not everyone believes charter schools are the best way to reform public schools. Test scores offer little assistance in this area, since numbers can often be manipulated to support either side of the aisle. As these alternatives to traditional public schools celebrate their 20-year anniversary, can we know definitively if they are making the grade? It may depend on who you talk to and which school you are talking about.
The Growth of Charter Schools
No matter what educators, parents and lawmakers might think of charter schools, one thing remains crystal clear: the number of charter schools nationwide has been slowly and steadily growing over the past 20 years. The Huffington Post reports that there are now around 5,600 charter schools around the country, attended by more than two million students. In states like Michigan, caps have been removed, allowing for exponential growth of charter schools in that state as a multitude of charter operators have moved in to take advantage of more liberal charter authorization laws.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Michigan began the new school year with 31 new charter schools and a 32nd in the works. Eighteen of those schools are in the Detroit area. Those numbers represent the largest charter school growth in a single year since 1990. Currently, the state has 277 charter schools operating, with three-fourths operated by for-profit companies.
Are They Working?
With charter school growth...
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Recent Public School Articles
Published June 15, 2013
Texas recently passed legislation decreasing the number of standardized tests for high school students, but how will this impact graduation standards?
With many tragic cases of cyberbullying reported to date, a recent study shows the problem is actually increasing among high school students across the country.
Summer loss is a real phenomenon that can be easily avoided, as long as children keep their minds sharp in the warm months. Use these 10 tips to help your student retain all they learned through the year.
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